Around the time the Juggernaut was looking for a rematch with Thor, a juggernaut of comics art was wrapping up his affairs at Marvel and preparing for a well-deserved retirement from the medium--Joltin' Joe Sinnott, who just over a month ago turned 90 years young. Sinnott, who would have been in his mid-'60s at the time of his farewell, went on to ink the Sunday Spider-Man comic strip (pencilled by Paul Ryan) for King Features for the next three years, and would keep his hand in afterward by doing cover recreations and finishes.
Sinnott's career spanned many, many comics titles and several companies, including Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics. As I understand it, he first made his mark at Marvel when he took a job for Stan Lee inking Fantastic Four #5, the classic issue which introduced Doctor Doom to the world, and followed up with work on Journey Into Mystery #83 which featured the debut of the mighty Thor (as well as inking five subsequent JIM issues); but it wasn't until the mid-1960s when he would return to and work for Marvel exclusively, beginning with X-Men #13, in a continued story which presented the first appearance of (appropriately enough) the Juggernaut.
I was reminded of Sinnott's contributions to the industry while researching the PPC's prior post and came across the well-wishes of penciller Ron Frenz, who enjoyed a long run with Sinnott's polished style on the Thor title before Sinnott turned in his final work on the book.
If I were to list Mr. Sinnott's well-earned accolades, from his fellow professionals in the comics medium to his many admirers who have followed his work over the decades, we'd be here all day, and it would probably be well worth the time spent. Suffice to say that I strongly echo Mr. Frenz's ardent sentiments with my own. Joe Sinnott's artistry will always be a strong part of Marvel Comics' rise to success and beyond, and his work remains a reason why I enjoy looking back on the company's line of books with such admiration.
2 comments:
some of us would never have bothered 2 try to break into the big 5, without the work of Joltin' Joe. or picked up a #2 red sable brush. or learned what a hunt #22 nib 'meant'. silver-age, bronze age, any age, when inks matter(unlike candy-ass tablet digital crap today passing itself off as 'inking') it's all about Joe.
I'm staggered by how long it's actually been since he retired. Had you asked me before I saw the date on Ron Frenz's piece, I'd have said it's been about 7 or 8 years since he bowed out from regular inking duties for Marvel. However, to think it's been a quarter of a century or more is truly mind-numbing. One of the greats, sure enough.
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